During the summer vacation, many parents are busy lining up events and activities to ensure their children have a fun, structured and hopefully educational break from school.Along with the usual camps, lessons, play-dates and family vacations, some parents are choosing an array of educational toys and activities to keep their kids active and intellectually engaged throughout the dog days of July and August, and are finding surprisingly positive results.With the availability of many old-fashioned games and puzzles, kids are acquiring important skills for intellectual development, keeping mentally “fit” in the context of having fun, and occupying their time in a well-structured manner.

MonkeyPodGames.com has noticed the trend: sales of wooden puzzles and brain teaser games have increased in preparation for the summer. Although the classic games, puzzles, and wooden brain teasers haven’t changed over the years, they are perhaps more relevant today for teaching kids important lessons such as self-regulation and perseverance, as well as mathematical and visual-spatial reasoning.While mathematics is certainly not what kids generally think of as summer fun, the skills are acquired almost subconsciously and in the context of play and enjoyment.Thus, the puzzles and games function as fun educational tools, and make the perfect summer gift for young children.

For children ages 3-6, MonkeyPodGames has a section called Kids Learning Puzzles that includes simple puzzles, wooden blocks and elementary games. Consistent with folk knowledge that is now being confirmed by research from educators and child psychologists, these types of toys tend to inspire creative and imaginative play in children. A recent National Public Radio segment reported a study extolling the merits of loosely structured playtime in positively influencing children’s development. Compared with conventional computer games often presented to young children, the toys featured on Monkey Pod Games’ Kids Learning Puzzles section offer much more freedom, not just of movement and touch, but also for constructing a world around play.

Items such as the high quality manufactured “Geometric Stacker,” which calls for shapes to be stacked randomly or in groups of similar geometry, allow a child, according to one parent commenting on the website, to progress on his own from random ordering to shape appropriate grouping.The “Zoo Puzzle,” a work of art in its own right, allows simple hands-on exploration of strategic placement. “Child Sudoku” is a simplified and nicely crafted wooden version of the popular brain game that requires experimentation with numbers and provides a changeable interface which parents can use to set up a variety of different puzzles.Since children’s learning is often reinforced through touch, these games are beneficial because they invite a child to experiment tangibly while building a vocabulary of shapes, geometry, numbers and positions.

Monkey Pod Games hopes that their assortment of classic games and fine handcrafted wooden brainteasers will positively influence the development and education of young children in a meaningful way.As summer heats up, wooden puzzles and brain teasers are the perfect way for kids to pass the time.Children are delighted by the fun and distracting games, and parents can be rest assured that their child is improving his or her originality, creativity and strategic thinking in the process.